Farm Progress

U. S. cotton plantings will increase by 7 percent in 2014. Corn acreage will drop 4 percent and wheat is 1 percent lower than last year.

Ron Smith 1, Senior Content Director

April 1, 2014

3 Min Read

U. S. cotton plantings will increase by 7 percent in 2014. Corn acreage will drop 4 percent and wheat is 1 percent lower than last year. Peanut acreage also looks to increase significantly, up from 1.07 million last year to 1.38 million anticipated for 2014, according to the March 31  Prospective Plantings Report from  the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

The report also indicates a decline in sorghum acreage, 6.68 million acres projected compared to 8.06 million last year.  

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All cotton planted area for 2014 is expected to total 11.1 million acres; upland cotton is expected to total 10.9 million acres. American Pima area is expected to total 158,000 acres, down 21 percent from 2013.

Corn planted area for all purposes in 2014 is estimated at 91.7 million acres, the lowest planted acreage in the United States since 2010; however, this will represent the fifth largest corn acreage in the United States since 1944.

Soybean planted area for 2014 is estimated at a record high 81.5 million acres, up 6 percent from last year.

All wheat planted area for 2014 is estimated at 55.8 million acres, down 1percent from 2013. The 2014 winter wheat planted area, at 42.0 million acres, is down 3 percent from last year but up slightly from the previous estimate. About 30.2 million acres are Hard Red Winter, 8.43 million acres are Soft Red Winter, and 3.35 million acres are White Winter.

Southwest acreage

Southwest numbers show Texas cotton acreage up 600,000 from last year at 6.4 million. Oklahoma will plant 220,000 acres of cotton, up 35,000 from 2013. New Mexico will plant 35,000 acres, a 4,000-acre decrease. Kansas farmers will add 9,000 cotton acres to total 36,000 for 2014.

Texas peanut farmers will add 20,000 acres to 2013 plantings, up from 120,000 to 140,000. Oklahoma and New Mexico will reduce acreage. Oklahoma peanuts will drop from 17,000 to 15,000, and New Mexico will plant 5,000 acres of peanuts, down from 7,000 last year.

Sorghum acreage in Texas is expected to hit 2.3 million acres, down from 3 million last year. Oklahoma sorghum acreage is expected to be 330,000, up from 320,000 in 2013. Kansas will plant 2.7 million acres of sorghum, down from 3.1 million last year. New Mexico sorghum acreage is expected to be 125,000, unchanged from 2013.

Kansas wheat farmers have slightly less wheat planted than last year, 9.3 million compared to 9.5 million acres. Texas acreage is 5.9 million compared to 6.2 million last year. Oklahoma wheat plantings are 5.3 million, down from 5.6 million. New Mexico wheat acres are at 420,000, down from 440,000.

Canola acreage up across Southwest

Corn planting expectations include: Kansas, 4.4 million, up from 4.3 million; Oklahoma, 300,000, down from 370,000: Texas, 2.1 million, off from 2.35 million; and New Mexico, 110,000, down from 120,000.

 

Also of interest:

WASDE predicts higher corn exports

Defining the Southwest ag census report

USDA wheat price outlook projections: fact or fiction

About the Author(s)

Ron Smith 1

Senior Content Director, Farm Press/Farm Progress

Ron Smith has spent more than 40 years covering Sunbelt agriculture. Ron began his career in agricultural journalism as an Experiment Station and Extension editor at Clemson University, where he earned a Masters Degree in English in 1975. He served as associate editor for Southeast Farm Press from 1978 through 1989. In 1990, Smith helped launch Southern Turf Management Magazine and served as editor. He also helped launch two other regional Turf and Landscape publications and launched and edited Florida Grove and Vegetable Management for the Farm Press Group. Within two years of launch, the turf magazines were well-respected, award-winning publications. Ron has received numerous awards for writing and photography in both agriculture and landscape journalism. He is past president of The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and was chosen as the first media representative to the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Advisory Board. He was named Communicator of the Year for the Metropolitan Atlanta Agricultural Communicators Association. More recently, he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas Plant Protection Association. Smith also worked in public relations, specializing in media relations for agricultural companies. Ron lives with his wife Pat in Johnson City, Tenn. They have two grown children, Stacey and Nick, and three grandsons, Aaron, Hunter and Walker.

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